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Christian Kocher

Principal

Vice President, Operations

Senior Scientist

Career Summary:

Mr. Kocher has over 22 years of professional experience performing sediment dredge materials studies, physical oceanography, storm water hydrology, and coastal water/sediment quality investigations. Mr. Kocher has served as a project manager and senior scientist for large-scale, multi-faceted environmental investigations for both government and private sectors. He has comprehensive experience in regulatory compliance studies, dredge materials reuse/disposal projects, and National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) water, sediment and biological quality monitoring. Projects Mr. Kocher has managed have been completed on time, within budget, and to the client’s satisfaction throughout the coastal oceans, estuaries, harbors and rivers of California, Texas, Alaska, Hawaii, and the Bahamas. Routine responsibilities include cost estimating, budget management, subcontracting, operations management, logistics, adherence to strict schedules, quality assurance/quality control, writing of comprehensive reports and manuals, and formal presentations.

Mr. Kocher’s stormwater monitoring career began in 1990 when he performed equipment installations and event monitoring for the Santa Clara County Urban Runoff Program and the Alameda County Stormwater Monitoring Program. By the mid to late 1990s, Mr. Kocher was managing and performing all aspects of stormwater monitoring for comprehensive projects with automated, remote-controlled equipment for many municipalities throughout California, Texas, Oklahoma and Hawaii, and for the California Department of Transportation For many of these clients, Mr. Kocher wrote operation and maintenance manuals for instrumentation system assemblies and conducted capacity-building training seminars to support NPDES permit-compliance monitoring. He has written, edited and reviewed numerous quality assurance project plans, sampling and analysis plans, technical memoranda and monitoring reports. He has been instrumental in the successful implementation of many monitoring studies and Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan compliance involving a wide variety of approaches; Best Management Practices design, development, and efficacy testing; receiving waters monitoring; component instrumentation, flow measurement strategies, telemetry methods, power sources, and overcoming challenging environmental monitoring conditions.

Mr. Kocher has also managed and performed water quality monitoring programs and oceanographic investigations associated with point-source discharges; ocean spill assessments; dredge materials management; and surface water, groundwater and wastewater characterization. He has comprehensive expertise in designing, managing and conducting vibracore, gravity core, and sediment grab sample investigations; and technical experience in planning projects involving survey vessels, navigational equipment, and specialized sampling equipment. Prior to joining ADH, Mr. Kocher served as an ocean observatories technician for the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, a project scientist for Kinnetic Laboratories, and a research engineer for Hydro-Optics, Biology & Instrumentation Laboratories. Over the past ten years, Mr. Kocher has led the field operations for ADH and has been responsible for successful planning, logistics, collection and testing for numerous sediment sampling and testing projects and dredge materials suitability evaluations for the USACE, San Francisco District and the San Francisco Department of Public Works.

Mr. Kocher also has comprehensive experience in the evaluation of sediment testing data to determine suitability options for reuse and/or disposal of dredged materials requiring proper application of various regulatory and guidance documents including EPA’s Ocean and Inland Testing Manuals, USACE’s Upland Testing Manual, LTMS, for the Placement of Dredged Materials in the San Francisco Bay Region, and relevant sediment quality criteria and sediment evaluation guidelines.

Throughout these projects, Mr. Kocher has acquired comprehensive expertise assisting clients in complying with court orders and fulfilling NPDES permit obligations that require a thorough understanding and interpretation of stormwater quality management plans. He has prepared, edited and reviewed numerous monitoring reports for submission to regulatory agencies, including the State Water Resources Control Board and Regional Water Quality Control Boards.

"The mission of ADH Environmental is to provide our clients the highest quality professional consulting services based upon a sound strategic approach, thorough analyses and effective solutions with the ultimate goal of improving the ecological integrity of our environment."